Nats can't hold on in loss to Tigers

Washington surrenders three runs in ninth inning to Detroit

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

TIGERS 6, NATIONALS 5at Lakeland, Fla.Monday, March 26

Nationals at the plate: Cristian Guzman's three-run homer punctuated a five-run, five-hit fifth inning. Dmitri Young, Kory Casto and Robert Fick hit consecutive singles to lead off the inning. Guzman added a single in the seventh.

Tigers at the plate: Ivan Rodriguez doubled twice, including a leadoff shot to the left-field wall in the first inning before scoring on an error. Placido Polanco went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. Timo Perez was denied a single when Chris Snelling threw him out from right field.

Nationals on the mound: Jason Bergmann recovered from a two-run opening inning to scatter two hits in his next four innings. Levale Speigner gave up his first run of the spring after 13-plus scoreless innings.

Tigers on the mound: Mike Maroth threw four scoreless innings before his five-run fifth. Todd Jones worked a scoreless seventh.

Grapefruit League records: Nationals 11-13; Tigers 17-11-1.

Up next: The Tigers make their next-to-last road trip of Spring Training for their final night game of camp on Tuesday. They'll visit Disney's Wide World of Sports complex for a 7:05 p.m. ET game against the Braves. Jeremy Bonderman is scheduled to make his final spring tuneup opposite John Smoltz.

The Nationals return to Viera, Fla., to host the Mets in a 7:05 p.m. contest on Tuesday. Jerome Williams will start against Oliver Perez.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.